Women Farmers, Teesta River, Bangladesh
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TEESTA RIVER, BANGLADESH, January 30, 2018. Four women stand wrapped in shawls on the exposed riverbed of the Teesta. Behind them, the flat sand stretches to the horizon. They are pumpkin farmers, supported by Practical Action's Pumpkins Against Poverty program, which works with thousands of Bangladeshis to grow crops in the barren sandbars left behind by seasonal floods. The technique is simple. Dig a pit in the sand, fill it with compost, plant a seed. Upstream, India's Gajoldoba Barrage diverts the Teesta's flow before it reaches northern Bangladesh. Water drops to 1,000 cusec in the dry season. Irrigation requires 5,000. The women farm where the river used to be.